Your ratio of omega-3s to omega-6s is probably out of balance: What it means and how to fix it

Pssst. Your heart has a message for you: It wants you to increase your consumption of omega-3 fatty acids so it can keep beating until you're a ripe old age.

Omega-6s, though? That's a whole other story.

They might have similar names but omega-6 has not got the health kudos of omega-3, and getting the ratio right could make all the difference to your lifespan.

"Omega-6 was found to be a risk factor for mortality, while omega-3 was protective," Natalie Parletta, University of South Australia dietitian and senior research fellow, writes on The Conversation.

The science for you

Omega-3 fats are found in oily fish like tuna, salmon, sardines and blue mackerel, as well as walnuts, linseed, chia seeds and canola oil.

Unlike other types of fat, omega-3 fats are a "biologically active" fat. According to the Heart Foundation, they help lower your heart rate and improve your heart rhythm, decrease your risk of getting blood clots, reduce your blood pressure and prevent the build-up of plaque in your arteries.

If you don't eat fish, the Heart Foundation recommends taking omega-3 capsules or liquid to bump up your intake.

While omega-3s seem to reduce inflammation, omega-6s — mostly found in processed seed and vegetable oils — may contribute to it, which could increase inflammation and have negative health implications.

That said, omega-6 is still an "essential fat" because our bodies are unable to produce it ourselves, so we do need to get it from our diets … just not in the volume many of us have it.

"Omega-3 and omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids are important for brain development," Parletta adds.

"Major sources of omega-6 polyunsaturated fatty acids are seeds that are used abundantly in vegetable oils like safflower and sunflower oil. These oils are commonly used to make margarines. Processed foods such as cakes, biscuits, burgers, pizza and chips are therefore high in omega-6."

Do you need to calculate your ratio?

Research suggests that we should be having a similar ratio of omega-6 and omega-3 for optimum health (a ratio of 1:1). However the Western diet tends to end up around 16:1, with excessive amounts of omega-6s.

And while you could get blood prick test from a pharmacy to test your omega-3 levels, nutrition scientist Dr Tim Crowe tells Coach that simply reducing your intake of processed foods and having fish a few times a week will do the trick.

"Our current Western diet has a high omega-6 to low omega-3 ratio, but it’s also a diet high in processed foods, so it’s not just omega-3s and omega-6s, it’s the overall diet that matters," he says.

"Most of our omega-6s are coming from highly processed foods, so in the end, a diet that improves your omega-6 to omega-3 ratio will actually have you eating a healthier diet overall – that’s where the benefit comes from."

In fact Dr Crowe says that we do need some omega-6 fats for good health.

"It gets portrayed that 3s are good and 6s are bad, but we need both – we actually need omega-6s for our immune system," Dr Crowe says.

"It’s not about eliminating them from our diet – we just need to make sure we have enough omega-3s by eating fish, walnuts and flaxseeds, and just focus on eating healthier."